The Overlooked Opportunity in Sustainability Transformation

The push by companies to create competitive advantage through sustainability is opening up vast, untapped business opportunities. But in my experience, many are overlooking one opportunity space in particular – the S in ESG. ?

In a recent piece titled Six Steps to a Sustainability Transformation , my co-authors and I explore how companies can remake their business. Much of the effort to date relates to the E in ESG (environmental, social and governance) performance, specifically transforming company operations to reduce emissions. Certainly, this is a critical goal requiring the mobilization of players across the global economy. In the case of climate alone, the push to limit global temperature increases to 1.5℃ will require investments totaling an estimated $100 trillion to $150 trillion by 2050.

?But what comes up less in my conversations with financial sponsors and the companies in which they invest is the ways sustainability transformations can unlock new sources of growth– and specifically new business opportunities—by capitalizing on social tailwinds. One of the ventures that I am proud of in this space is FYLD.

FYLD grew out of work done by gas distribution company SGN, BCG Digital Ventures and Koru to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of SGN’s field operators. This was borne out of a one-week “hack-a-future” we hosted in late 2018, through which we helped SGN identify a range of ideas.?The idea underpinning FYLD was ultimately selected for further elaboration and eventually incubation.

What I am most proud of is how the FYLD platform has already had real impact, helping customers slash incidents and injuries since implementation. This leading technology startup does this by using high-quality unstructured video and voice data and analytics to help companies manage their field force. The offering became even more powerful during the pandemic, as it allows field workers to manage their work without face-to-face contact with customers. FYLD also enables long-distance monitoring of multiple sites, virtual interactions and hand-overs, and remote task assignments and expert support.

This is a win-win – helping companies across industries such as energy and telecommunications enhance the safety and productivity of their field force and allowing SGN to become a co-investor in a new business venture and provide an alternative source of commercial growth. My hope is that this is the first of many such new business success stories coming out of broader sustainability transformations.